iDale

My blog has been getting a lot of unusual interest over the past two months – I’ve been approached to do competitions, attend events and even review products for companies. Why am I telling you this? Well, it’s because I wan’t you to know that everything on this site is real. If I use something you’ll see it, if I go somewhere interesting you’ll know it and if I don’t like something you can read about it too.

But every now and then I’m exposed to something I don’t really know about and can’t help exploring and exposing. Kinda like this envelope I received on Friday with an invitation to the launch of the Tiffany & Co. range of watches in South Africa.

My my my, what do we have here?

I can’t afford a Tiffany & Co. watch! The other thing I know about this event is that it’s at The Saxon – possibly one of the most delightful places in South Africa. Madiba chilled there after he got out the joint and wrote his book in one of the fine villas. Sadly I won’t be attending the function or writing a book as I’m already 100% committed to EFC Africa 06 at the Dome on the same night – oh well.

A short break from the beef, lamb & chicken.

On Saturday I went to my new favorite healthy lunch joint, Life, in Sandton Square. I’ve written about it before, but now you can see what I’m on about. You head to their salad bar, select a variety of ingredients and enjoy them with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Yum!

I’m also on a mission for shorts at the moment and found a few pairs I like at Quicksilver. This is my vibe…

I don't skate or surf, but I sure like the shorts.

In all honesty I didn’t get the shorts from the store cause I know a guy who knows a guy… they’ll be arriving soon enough along with a few other pairs I selected.

While I’m making confessions you should all know that I shaved off my Movember mustache on Saturday afternoon right after Vusi, my hairdresser, said it looked like Robert Mugabe’s upper-lip-gem. I’m sure you can understand?

Vusi knows style, but sadly he’s not the most punctual man. When I’ve got free time I get hungry and the closest place was Geldhof Chocolates. They have a huge irresistible variety…

Champagne, mint, hazelnut, coffee, dark, light, sugar-free...

So after I lost my Mo and got my hair cut, I met up with the man behind Karan Beef, Avron. I won a #MeatyMonday competition on twitter and finally got the goods. Needless to say I dashed home, lit a fire and…

It's braai time!

I smothered my Karan Beef 28-day aged steak with a mix of NoMU barbeque and Woolworths steak spices. I love cooking-up in Summer. The view from the balcony is always incredible (like Karan Beef I might add).

It's not Camps Bay, but it's stunning.

On Saturday night we went to Liquid Chefs in the new section of The Zone in Rosebank. It’s been open for a couple of days and I was really impressed by both the venue and their menu concept…

Pick a cocktail then pick one of the 34 flavors. Genius.

On Sunday I visited the Bruma Market and finally saw how these sand artworks are created inside glass containers. This is a serious skill and you have to respect the guys who make them…

Complex art - one grain at a time

I also experienced a Turkish meatball dish for the first time. They were very tasty and came on a sweet doughy bread with miniature side salad.

Turkish Meatballs & Bread

Sunday night came too soon and I couldn’t help opening a bottle fine red wine to enjoy while I devoured the leftovers from the braai. I’ve just got to say that The Chocolate Block is amazing wine. Get some if you haven’t tried it yet.

The Chocolate Block wine is spectacular

Have a great week!

The Taj Mahal holds the distinction of being one of the Seven Wonders of the World built by man and is a white marble tribute built by the Mogul emperor Shah Jahan in the 17th century.

The best of the best.

So you can’t blame the world-renowned Franklin Mint for unveiled a rare and unprecedented work of artistry – the Taj Mahal Gold Coin – at their new Manhattan showroom.

It was minted and designed by Monnaie de Paris and only 29 of these beauties will ever be produced.

1 of 29

It doesn’t stop there – the coin is not only the first and only French coin comprised of 1kg of solid gold, but it is the world’s first coin to include 68 hand-set Cartier diamonds.

You heard me - 68 Cartier diamonds!

The Taj Mahal Gold Coin is valued at $140,000 and is being offered exclusively in the United States. The case alone – an elaborate leather and wood piece by French luggage designer Goyard – is worth approximately $7,000. Thats over R1 million for a single coin!

Here is a closeup, so you don’t mistake this bad boy for lesser-awesome coins that don’t feature diamonds, weigh less than 1kg and are made in larger quantities…

Bang!

Love Gold? See more…

• Gold Bugatti Veyron Model Goes for R22m
• Get Gold from this Vending Machine
• Bang & Olufsen Goes for Gold
• Wireless Gold Mouse

Jim Marshall started Marshall Amplification more than 45 years ago in London England – the brand and its products have become legendary in the professional music world, and now come to you in the form of legendary headphones wrapped in the iconic Marshall-look packaging.

The Major

The Major encloses vast amounts of Marshall legacy…

Includes all the various jack adaptors in the box

Besides being straight up dazzling, the exterior of the headband is made out of the same vinyl used in Marshall amplifiers and it bears the original Marshall texture.

Folds and rolls up into a compact size

The Major is a solid workhorse with great stamina, designed with non-stop, all-day listening in mind.

The Minor

An advanced and hard working in-ear model…

Comes equipped with microphone and remote for use with your cell phone

In addition to its good looks it incorporates quite a few exciting features. EarClick is a patent that ingeniously secures the earphone into position in your ear.

I wan't these in my ears now!

Combined with excellent audio and a tangle resistant fabric cord the Minor is in it for the long haul.

Visit the Marshall Headphones site

Look at the Marshalls Mini Amplifier I featured last year.

Oh my, what do we have here?

I couldn’t help myself sharing this exotic villa with infinity pool and spectacular views. Sharing is caring right?

mmm, a swimming pool and some palm trees!

Sure, it may be a little exorbitant, but I want to be inside this luxury pad worse than Steers burgers want to be inside me!

Infinity - one way to describe it!

The circular infinity pool as well as its phenomenal location make this villa a unique place for a getaway. Lets be honest here… no one’s gonna rev their car outside your window at 8 am and the likelihood of trick or treaters is minimal!

Simple and fresh.

The main house consists of three separate bedrooms, all having access to the infinity pool. You can be like “Hey, I’ll meet you in the pool”.

Then when the sun sets...

The villa can be rented for week-ends, so if you happen to visit Costa Careyes, maybe this post will actually come in handy?

Does the vibe get any better than this?

Right now, a moment of silence please.

Heavenly angel "aaaaaaaah" sounds right about... now!

Keep dreaming and take a look at some more bad-ass homes:

• Rio Home Worth Living In
• A Chic Pimp Palace!
• Floating House in Seattle
• Irresistible Spanish Island Villa
• The Razor in La Jolla – a must see!
• Another Irresistible Spanish Island Villa
• Step Into This Carla Ridge Palace…
• A Compass Pointe Five-Room Dream Home

On 28 Nov I’ll be heading to the Food Wine Design Fair in Hyde Park to witness the launch of Field of Dreams – South Africa’s very first authentic high-proof 72% Absinthe from Jorgensen’s Distillery.

I’ve been chatting to Roger & Dawn Jorgensen, the producers of Field of Dreams, and they kindly agreed to share the secret of how to make absinthe with you and I. Of course it’s high-level and I wouldn’t try this at home…

Versailles Farm in the Cape Winelands - where all the Absinthe action happens!

Before I begin, it’s important to recognise the difference between French/Swiss absinthe and Czech absinthe. The former is the darling of the Belle Époque and the latter is a more modern knock off. Real Absinthe is a redistillation of fine alcohol in the presence of specific aromatic herbs, most notably Artemisia Absinthium (wormwood) from which Absinthe gets its name. This is followed by a laborious natural colouring process. Fake absinthe uses essences and colourants and rarely contains real wormwood.

One

Roger with a handful of Hyssop

The real challenge with Absinthe is acquiring enough of the right plant material. It takes years. Whilst the complete list and proportion of aromatics is known only to The Still Man, Field of Dreams contains the holy trinity of wormwood, green anise and fennel with earth notes provided by angelica root, calamus root, liquorice root and orris root. The colouring herbs are Melissa, hyssop, wild dagga, wild mint, roman wormwood and angelica leaves, with floral notes provided by Cape buchu and wild rose geranium. So get planting.

Two

Roger carefully double distils dry white wine to make a lightly aromatic spirit at 85% alcohol. This will be used as a base for the Absinthe. Too much flavour will spoil the nuances of the herbs, too little will make the Absinthe flat and uninspiring.

All the herbs organised and standing by

Three

Spirit flowing from the potstill

The 1871 recipe used by Jorgensen’s as inspiration requires them to soak the primary aromatic herbs in the 85% wine spirits for 12 or more hours, add water and then gently distil off the alcohol and all the flavour from the plants. At this stage the young Absinthe is highly fragrant and completely clear and colourless.

Four

Next is the colouring process which also finely tunes and completes the flavour profile. Arrays of fragrant chlorophyll-rich herbs with delicate floral qualities are steeped in the young Absinthe giving it a vibrant natural green hue.

Star Anise is used to flavour other drinks like Jägermeister & Sambuca too

Five

And there you have it!

The final step is enjoyment. Real Absinthe is bottled with very high alcohol content (72%) for technical reasons. It must therefore be adequately diluted before enjoyment: a measure of Absinthe is even called a dose! A ritual has evolved where iced water is dripped into a special glass containing the dose of Absinthe. The addition of water causes a reaction with the abundant oils extracted from the herbs causing it to “louche”, or cloud, with a mesmerising swirl which in turn releases the complex aromas and flavours. Dilute at least 3:1 and sip slowly. Some prefer to sweeten their Absinthe with sugar, but this should not be necessary with a really good example. Three glasses of Absinthe will inspire you and is more than enough to enter your Field of Dreams.

Indeed! The key to good Absinthe is balance of flavours: bitter wormwood vs sweet anise/fennel underpinned by good earth grounding from the roots and with light floral top notes says Roger

That being said all wormwood and many of the other ingredients do contain thujone which is said to be mildly psychoactive and gives Absinthe its different feel and loosens inhibitions (oh yeah!). In the US and EU the thujone levels are monitored and controlled. There is no regulation here in SA but as Roger & Dawn intend to send Field of Dreams far and wide they are complying with foreign best practice. Aaaah!

Visit the Jorgensen’s Distillery web site and even follow them on twitter.

Don’t forget to see them in person at the Food Wine Design Fair!

Some things work perfectly. Others… well, they could be improved. The problem is that we become so used to what we have that we eventually just settle.

I was also puzzled when I first saw this.

One company is not willing to settle any longer. And they are on a mission to show you and I why their new improved nail clipper is the business…

AHA!

Meet Klhip: A revolutionary nail clipper that’s been reverse engineered so you apply pressure right above the blade. The results? Better ergonomics. Effortless cutting. And a nail so smooth you can skip the file ladies!

Snip!

Plus (and this is the biggie… wait for it!), clippings stay on-board instead of flying to the floor!

Stylish carry case

So why re-design something so mundane? Now you know! Get it here.

This beauty is now available in South Africa!

Ready for takeoff.

Get in. Press start.

A killer rear end!

A fine side profile!

A very very sexy stance.

Download the comprehensive 14-page press release from McLaren: 2011 McLaren MP4 12C Press Release

And remember: This car is no good without a Samsonite Mclaren-Powered Luggage set.

As you’ve probably gathered by now, my weekends tend to revolve around fine food, shopping, friends and fun. That’s why I started off Friday night by unleashing my NoMU poultry rub on a couple of chicken fillets…

...she was afraid of being called chicken when the farmer stepped in the pen

The flavour was intense in a good way and the food came out just right – soft centre with no signs of pink meat. It was the perfect start to a very very relaxed weekend…

...she sleeps with one eye open since "the hotdog incident"

On Saturday I slept in and later went to meet my sister who recently returned from an overseas excursion. She revealed this spectacular iPad case she found for me…

I've been searching for an iPad case with a shoulder strap for months!

We enjoyed a light lunch at Life in Sandton City again and then discovered a musical frenzy in the Fountain Court! Music Mate, had a huge display of instruments for people to test out – everything from drums and DJ equipment to organs and kids guitars.

Just look at this Spongebob Squarepants range of children’s musical instruments…

Yes, that's a Spongebob tambourine you see alongside the egg-shaker!

On Sunday we headed over to some friends who just moved into their first place. I was shocked at how gorgeous their complex in Saxonwold is. Just look at these amazing gardens. I felt like I was in another country!

David Bowie was about to jump out of the labyrinth...

We hooked them up with a Square Forest – the perfect way to bring lush greenery into the home without the hassle of maintaining plants or trees.

The storm that chased away the weekend braai

Sadly, later in the day the storm you see above scared away my traditional weekend braai! But, fear not, I’ll always make a plan to feed myself (like Bear Grylls in a kitchen) - this time it was crispy, salty, french fries… yum!

My anti-clockwise production line on good form as usual

While I was wrapping up my meal, I tuned in to witness Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel sealing his place in the F1 history books as the youngest F1 world champion.

Sebastian Vettel knows a thing or two about timing

The men who had been ahead in the standings, Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull’s Mark Webber, lost out on the ultimate prize after pit stops with bad timing, finishing seventh and eighth…

Considering my team (Ferrari) didn’t win and my braai had been scared off, there was nothing left to do but place three competing phones onto a portable grill and see which one died first…

I just have to say that even though the iPhone (my phone of choice) didn’t last the longest, it was the only device to signal a warning, going out in pure style (and with attention to detail) as usual!

Nude, Green Leaves and Bust - more than five feet tall

This vibrant blue and lilac canvas painting, Nude, Green Leaves and Bust, is one of a series of portraits that Picasso painted of his mistress and muse Marie-Thérèse Walter from 1932.

That's how you spot an original Picasso

It was bought by Los Angeles art collectors Sidney and Frances Brody in 1951 from Picasso’s dealer and was only publicly exhibited once, in 1961, to commemorate Picasso’s 80th birthday.

The painting was in the personal collection for nearly six decades and has just been sold at auction for US$106.5 million – that’s a world record price! The past record was $104.3 million for Giacometti’s sculpture “Walking Man I.”

Here’s a fantastic clock for all those DJ’s out there…

Although you can’t hook it up to a mixer and have a good wiki wiki, it does tell the time and make for a visually appealing piece of wall apparel – Now can someone help me find or make one of these!